Ranking the 10 Most Unlikely Wimbledon Winners in History | Bleacher Report Ranking the 10 Most Unlikely Wimbledon Winners in History By Jake Curtis , Featured Columnist Jul 6, 2013 Use your ← → (arrow) keys to browse the slideshow Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images Sabine Lisicki (left) and Marion Bartoli 10.7K 16 Comments Marion Bartoli's victory in the women's singles final at the All England Club raises an obvious question: Was she the most unlikely Wimbledon winner in history? Before the tournament began, few would have picked the 15th-seeded Bartoli, who, at 28, had never won a Grand Slam singles event and seemed to be past her prime. However, a number of other men and women have defied expectations, logic or past performances to win singles titles at Wimbledon. Sometimes, upsets produced unanticipated winners. Other times, circumstances yielded unlikely champions. After taking a look at the paths taken by all the champions, we composed a countdown of the 10 most unlikely Wimbledon winners in history. 10.

Bob Falkenburg, 1948 Wimbledon.com Bob Falkenburg's 1948 Wimbledon triumph barely edged out Michael Stich's 1991 title and Petra Kvitova's 2011 championship for the final spot on our list. Falkenburg advanced past the quarterfinals at Wimbledon only once, and that was the year he won it. His Wimbledon victory as a No. 7 seed in 1948 was the only time he got past the semifinals of any Grand Slam event. However, it was the way Falkenburg won the final against John Bromwich that earned him a place among the most unlikely champions. Bromwich, the 1946 Australian Open champion and the No. 2 seed at Wimbledon in 1948, had three match points against Falkenburg at 5-3 in the fifth set, according to a The New York Times obituary on Bromwich. But Falkenburg fought off all three match points, won four straight games and beat Bromwich 7-5, 0-6, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

Falkenburg's career took another unlikely turn when he passed on a $100,000-a-year professional tennis contract so he could introduce soft ice cream and American fast food in Brazil, according to the Wimbledon website , it became a highly successful business. 9. Arthur Ashe, 1975 Getty Images/Getty Images The fact that Arthur Ashe got to the 1975 Wimbledon final was a mild surprise. That he then beat Jimmy Connors 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 in the final was a shocker. Connors was an overwhelming 3-to-20 betting favorite against Ashe, according to an ESPN.com article. In fact, he was a 9-to-10 favorite to win in straight sets. Ashe, then 31, was in the Wimbledon final for the first time, making it as the No. 6 seed following a five-set victory over Tony Roche in the semifinals. The 22-year-old, top-seeded Connors had not lost a set en route to the final and had lost only six games while beating Ken Rosewall in the 1974 Wimbledon final.

But against Connors, Ashe took the pace off his shots, relying on angles and finesse to frustrate Connors' powerful groundstrokes. Ashe's insightful strategy made it a memorable match and resulted in one of the biggest upsets in a Wimbledon final. A 2011 The New York Times article extolled the brilliance of Ashe's strategy, while questioning whether such an approach would work today. 8. Andre Agassi, 1992 Bob Martin/Getty Images Andre Agassi would win eight Grand Slam titles, but when he began the 1992 Wimbledon tournament, he had not won any. With a No. 14 ranking at the time and the knowledge that grass was Agassi's worst surface, few figured the 1992 event at the All England club would produce his first major title. In his two previous Wimbledons, Agassi had lost in the first round in 1990 and in the quarterfinals (against David Wheaton) in 1991. Agassi's 1992 season before Wimbledon had been mediocre.

He had lost four matches to players ranked outside the Top 50, and his only good results had come at Atlanta and the French Open on clay, Agassi's best surface. He did not play a grass-court warmup event before Wimbledon, where he was seeded 12th. Agassi pulled off a shocker in the quarterfinals when he knocked off No. 4-seeded Boris Becker, a three-time Wimbledon champion who had reached the final six of the previous seven years. Becker could not believe a baseliner like Agassi could beat him on grass, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer report on the match. Agassi then beat two more serve-and-volley masters from the backcourt in the semifinals and final, knocking off John McEnroe and Goran Ivanisevic to take the title at age 22. 7. Sidney Wood, 1931 Getty Images, via Daily Telegraph Unlikely circumstances at the 1931 Wimbledon event provided Sidney Wood with his only Grand Slam title. Wood had not gone past the third round of his two previous Wimbledon tournaments, and, at age 19, he was not expected to win in 1931 either.

He was seeded seventh that year, but with Jean Borotra and Henri Cochet as the top two seeds and Fred Perry lurking as the No. 5 seed, Wood was a long shot at best. However, Cochet was upset in the first round by little-known Nigel Sharpe, and Wood took out Perry in the semifinals. In the final, Wood was scheduled to meet the No. 3 seed, Frank Shields, who had upset Borotra in the other semifinals. Shields, a finalist at the 1930 U.S. Championships on grass, would have been the favorite against Wood had the match been played. But in his book, The Wimbledon Final That Never Was, Wood explains that Shields was ordered by the U.S. Tennis Association not to play the in the final , so Shields could rest his injured knee for an upcoming Davis Cup match. It was the first and only time a Wimbledon final was decided by a walkover. Wood got to the final of just one more Grand Slam event in his career, losing in the U.S. Championships in 1935. 6.

Marion Bartoli, 2013 Mike Hewitt/Getty Images Marion Bartoli had shown she was capable of winning Wimbledon when she reached the final in 2007. However, that was six years earlier, and she had not been to the final of a Grand Slam event since. She had lost to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, a qualifier ranked 129th, in the second round of the 2012 Wimbledon, and Bartoli had not done anything in 2013 to suggest she would challenge this year. Bartoli had lost in the first round of four of her last seven tournaments leading up to Wimbledon, and she had five losses this year to players ranked 50th or worse. The week before Wimbledon, Bartoli had to withdraw in the second round of the grass-court tuneup at Eastbourne, England, because of a viral infection , according to the Associated Press. Her ranking had slipped to 15th, her lowest since March 2011, and, at age 28, Bartoli's career seemed to be on the decline.

More to the point, Serena Williams had been almost unbeatable in 2013, and she was the heavy favorite to win Wimbledon for the fourth time in five years and the sixth time overall. But things worked out perfectly for the 15th-seeded Bartoli, who became the first woman in 37 years to win a Grand Slam singles title without having to face a top-15 seed, according to an ESPN.com story . Lisicki had taken out Williams in a major upset, and Bartoli beat the 23rd-seeded Lisicki in straight sets in the final. Venus Williams , who was victorious as a No. 23 seed in 2007, is the only woman to win Wimbledon with a lower seed than Bartoli. 5. Jan Kodes, 1973 Tony Duffy/Getty Images Jan Kodes was a clay-court specialist who lost in the first or second round in 12 of the 15 Wimbledon tournaments he played. He got to the semifinals in 1972 and the quarterfinals in 1974, but did not beat a top-10 seed in either.

Kodes was seeded 15th in the initial Wimbledon seedings for 1973, according to a Sports Illustrated story. However, everything changed a few days before the tournament started. The Association of Tennis Professionals, a union of players organized a year earlier, voted to boycott the 1973 Wimbledon . The ATP was protesting a decision by Yugoslavian tennis officials and the International Lawn Tennis Federation to ban Nikki Pilic from Wimbledon for failing to play a Davis Cup match for Yugoslavia against New Zealand, according to a Sports Illustrated report.. Among the 82 pros who withdrew from Wimbledon were 11 of the top 12 seeds, including 1972 champion Stan Smith, as well as No. 3 seed John Newcombe and No. 4 seed Arthur Ashe. Ilie Nastase was elevated from the No. 2 seed to the top spot, and Kodes, who was not an ATP member, moved all the way up to the No. 2 seeding. Kodes was down two sets to one in three of his matches in the tournament, including the quarterfinals and semifinals against Vijay Amritraj and Roger Taylor.

He survived, then won the final in straight sets over Alex Metreveli, who had been elevated to the No. 4 seed after the withdrawals. 4. Venus Williams, 2007 Alex Livesey/Getty Images You may wonder how a person who had won Wimbledon three times in the previous seven years could be on this list. It's because 2007 was a different kind of year for Venus Williams, who had almost dropped off the tennis radar. She had lost in the third round at Wimbledon the previous year, and a left-wrist injury and various other ailments sent her career into a slide. Williams had lost to a qualifier in the second round in Luxembourg in September 2006, and that was her only tournament between the 2006 Wimbledon and a minor event in Memphis in February 2007. Williams hadn't beaten a top-12 player in more than a year when the 2007 Wimbledon tournament began. In her two tournaments immediately before Wimbledon, Williams had lost in the third round of the French Open and was beaten in by a player ranked 59th in the second round at Istanbul.

She was ranked 31st when Wimbledon got under way, and she was seeded as high as 23rd only because of her past success at the All England Club. "I was really motivated because no one picked me to win," she said later, according to the Associated Press. "They didn't even say, 'She can't win.' They weren't even talking about me." Williams did not start out the tournament like she would win it. She was two points from defeat in her first-round match against 59th-ranked Alla Kudryavtseva, and she trailed 5-3 in third set against 71st-ranked Akiko Morijami in the third round. She survived those two, then proceeded to beat No. 2-seeded Maria Sharapova , No. 5-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 6-seeded Ana Ivanovic, all in straight sets, to get to the final. Williams then beat 18th-seeded Marion Bartoli in the final to become the lowest-seeded player in history to win Wimbledon. That historical achievement is aided by the fact that no more than 16 players were seeded before 2001.

Nonetheless, winning Wimbledon as the 23rd seed suggests how unlikely Williams' title was. 3. Boris Becker, 1985 Bob Martin/Getty Images The numbers speak for Boris Becker's 1985 unlikely accomplishment: He was the first unseeded player to win Wimbledon. He was the first German to win Wimbledon. He is still the youngest male to win Wimbledon, taking the title at age 17. Becker had shown promise earlier. He reached the third round at Wimbledon the previous year before being forced to withdraw with an ankle injury, and he won the 1985 grass-court turneup at Queen's Club two weeks before Wimbledon. But Queen's Club was the only 2007 tournament in which Becker reached the final, and he did not have to play John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl or Jimmy Connors in that event. McEnroe, Lendl and Connors all rank among the top dozen male players of all time in the Tennis Channel rankings issued in 2012, and they were the top three seeds at Wimbledon in 1985. Seven weeks before the 1985 Wimbledon tournament, Becker was ranked 65th in the world.

He was still well outside the top 10, at No. 20, when Wimbledon began. Hank Pfister, Becker's first-round victim at Wimbledon, was not impressed. "I assumed he'd lose in the next round," Pfister told The New York Times years later. Becker had the good fortune to avoid meeting McEnroe, Connors and Lendl in the tournament, but he was nearly eliminated in a fourth-round match against 16th-seeded Tim Mayotte. Down two sets to one, Becker injured his ankle and nearly forfeited the match. But, according to the The New York Times story , his coach, Ion Tiriac, persuaded Becker to continue. Becker pulled out that match, then beat Henri Leconte, Anders Jarryd and Kevin Curren to take the title. He went on to win two more titles at Wimbledon, but he had established his reputation by then. 2. Richard Krajicek, 1996 Gary M. Prior/Getty Images Richard Krajicek had lost in the first round at Wimbledon in both 1994 and 1995, losing to players ranked outside the top 80 both times.

Furthermore, he had advanced past the quarterfinals in only one of the 14 tournaments he entered in 1996 leading up to Wimbledon. He had not beaten a top-10 player all year. Krajicek was seeded for the 1996 Wimbledon only because Thomas Muster had to drop out with an injury. Because Muster withdrew after the initial seedings had been announced, Krajicek was listed as the No. 17 seed, although only 16 players were placed in the draw as seeds. Most accounts of the 1996 Wimbledon referred to Krajicek as an unseeded player. But everything fell into place for Krajicek and his huge serve-and-volley game for those two weeks at Wimbledon. He pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon history when he defeated three-time defending champion and No. 1-seeded Pete Sampras in straight sets in a rain-interrupted quarterfinals. It was Sampras' only loss at Wimbledon during an eight-year run that ended in 2001.

"He played flat-out better than I did in the past couple of days," Sampras said after the loss to Krajicek, according to the Los Angeles Times. "I have nothing to be ashamed about. I ran into a player who was very hot and played very well." No. 2-seeded Boris Becker had retired with an injury in a third-round match, and Krajicek needed only to beat Jason Stoltenberg and MaliVai Washington in the semifinals and final to win the title. Krajicek's unlikely run was magnified by the fact that he lost only one set in the tournament and none in his final four matches. It was the only time Krajicek got to the final of a Grand Slam event. 1. Goran Ivanisevic, 2001 Clive Brunskill/Getty Images Goran Ivanisevic was ranked 125th in the world when he won Wimbledon in 2001. That alone makes him one of the most unlikely Wimbledon winners. But there was more to it than that. He had failed to win Wimbledon in three previous trips to the final, the most recent of those chances coming in 1998.

And in 2001, at age 29, with his ranking plummeting and a shoulder that would require surgery, according to CNNSI.com, his chances for a Wimbledon title seemed nonexistent. In his last six tournaments leading up to the 2001 Wimbledon event, Ivanisevic had lost in the first round four times and the second round twice. In the grass-court turneup event at Queen's Club, Ivanisivec had lost in the first round in straight sets to Cristiano Caratti , who was ranked 194th. Ivanisevic had to receive a wild-card entry just to get into Wimbledon that year, and Pete Sampras, who was seeking his eighth Wimbledon title in nine years, was the heavy favorite. Roger Federer got Sampras out of the way, and the English weather helped Ivanisivec get through his semifinal against Tim Henman. Henman had taken the third set, 6-0, in 15 minutes to lead two sets to one, and Henman held a 2-1 lead in the fourth set when rain halted play for the day. Refreshed the next day, Ivanisevic won in five sets.

The circus atmosphere in the Monday final against Patrick Rafter produced a classic five-set match. Ivanisevic served for the match at 8-7 of the fifth set, but he double-faulted three times in that game, including twice when he had match points. Finally, on his fourth match point, Ivanisevic closed out the match. History - 1990s - The Championships, Wimbledon 2017 - Official Site by IBM READ MORE 1990: A record for Navratilova On a sunny Saturday afternoon, Martina Navratilova produced a near-flawless performance to win her ninth Wimbledon singles title, a record that will take some topping in today's day and age. Competing against fellow American Zina Garrison, Navratilova served and volleyed her way around Centre Court in emphatic fashion, dropping just five games as she took the title 6-1, 6-4. The 33-year-old Navratilova won six consecutive championships from 1982 to 1987 but was made to wait before surpassing Helen Wills Moody's record of eight titles, losing the previous two years in the final to Steffi Graf.

But, with Graf disposed of by Garrison in the semi-finals, Navratilova got there eventually, straddling the net to acknowledge her beaten opponent and then, her courtside courtesies complete, sinking down on her knees for an instant of silent communion with the tennis court she loves best. "There were no glitches this time; everything came up nines," she said. "This tops it all, absolutely, because I've worked so hard." 1990: Boris Becker v Stefan Edberg The most defining aspect of the rivalry between Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg was the three successive Wimbledon finals they contested between 1988 and 1990. Having split the titles in '88 and '89, their 1990 encounter was undoubtedly the most riveting. Edberg, who had been routed by Boris the year before, swept ahead, crunching through the first two sets 6-2, 6-2. But, as was his wont, Becker rallied in typical fashion to win the next two sets 6-3, 6-3, and send the match into a fifth.

Becker broke Edberg early in the fifth set, on course for a fourth Wimbledon title, and setting up the possibility of being the first Wimbledon champion to win the last three sets in a five-set match since Henri Cochetin 1927. But, it was not to be. Edberg regained the break and then broke Becker in the ninth game of the set with a topspin lob winner, eventually serving it out for his second Wimbledon title. The Swede went on to win the US Open in 1991 and 1992. 1991: Steffi Graf v Gabriela Sabatini One of SW19's greatest champions arrived at Wimbledon in 1991 having suffered rather a seesaw period, registering one of the worst defeats of her career against Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the French Open semi-finals, losing her first 6-0 set since 1984. But, as is so often the case, the green grass of the All England Club gave the formerly indomitable German a boost, powering her way to the final.

Coming up against friend and rival Gabriela Sabatini, the odds on form were in the Argentine's favour, having beaten Graf in four tournaments in the spring. But Graf was always capable of something special at Wimbledon, and so it proved, the German rallying back from dropping the second set, and holding her nerve to win an epic Centre Court final 6-4 3-6 8-6, the longest final for 15 years. 1991: Middle Sunday One of the wettest first weeks in the tournament's history - just 52 out of about 240 matches were completed by Thursday evening - prompted the decision to stage play on the traditional day off, the Middle Sunday. Gabriela Sabatini and Andrea Strnadova emerged from their dressing room on to Centre Court for their third-round noon showdown. They were greeted by a packed stadium, a seemingly unending roar and enough Mexican waves to fill an ocean. The spectators had raced from the gates for prime, £10-a-head unreserved seats. They had formed part of a queue snaking almost two miles that produced an attendance of 24,894.

On No.1 Court, John McEnroe, a three-time champion, did not disappoint his adoring fans with a victory against Frenchman Jean-Philippe Fleurian, while victories for eventual Swedish semi-finalist Stefan Edberg and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario warmed up the effervescent crowd on the main court for the top of the bill: Jimmy Connors. Despite thriving on the atmosphere, Connors was eventually upstaged by fellow American Derrick Rostango, but the atmosphere overtook the results that day. 1992: Andre Agassi v Goran Ivanisevic They said that he couldn't win Wimbledon, and certainly not by playing resolutely pinned to the baseline. But Andre Agassi wasn't having that. Defeating Goran Ivanisevic 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 for the Wimbledon title, the Las Vegan erased the stigma of his previous Grand Slam failures, becoming the first back-of-the-court player to win the title since Bjorn Borg, and the first American to win Wimbledon since John McEnroe in 1984.

Illustrating that thundering groundstrokes can be just as important as booming serves, the flamboyant American stood firm throughout a Wimbledon final record onslaught of 37 aces from the 6’4” Croatian, waiting for his chances, and eventually breaking Ivanisevic three times in the match. One of the remarkable statistics was the fact that Ivanisevic came to the net 91 times, not uncommon on grass, but was passed by Agassi an astounding 26 times. "So many things were going through my mind - Wimbledon champion, Grand Slam winner, a lot of months and years of people doubting me," he said. 1992: John McEnroe v Michael Stich John McEnroe collected his fifth Wimbledon men's doubles title as he and Michael Stich beat Americans Jim Grabb and Richie Reneberg 5-7, 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(5), 19-17 in a record-breaking final.

McEnroe had been dumped out of the singles by the sprightly Andre Agassi in the semi-finals, and so his and Stich's performance, in the longest men's doubles final since the 1968 Roche and Newcombe victory over Rosewall and Stolle, certainly made amends. Held over from Saturday because of fading light, the match was moved to Court 1 on the final Sunday, the All England Club allowing 7,500 fans into the Grounds for free. After 34 games in the final set had gone with serve, McEnroe produced a stunningly disguised lob to bring up match point, followed by Reneberg dumping Super Brat's serve into the net. Stich grabbing McEnroe around the waist and lifting him into the air, the unseeded pair triumphed after five hours and one minute.

1993: The Long Term Plan In March 1993, The All England Lawn Tennis Club unveiled its Long Term Plan, the blueprint to take Wimbledon into the 21st Century by providing the finest facilities for all those involved with the event — spectators, players, media, officials — and consistent with our aspiration for The Championships to be embraced as the world’s premier tennis tournament, and still played on grass. 1993: Steffi Graf v Jana Novotna Steffi Graf's fifth Wimbledon title was almost overshadowed by her opponent, Jana Novotna, conspiring to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory after leading by a double break of serve in the third set. Graf looked down and out as Novotna went for broke on a second serve while leading 4-1 in the third set, having romped through the second set 6-1. But whether it was nerves or simply getting ahead of herself, she missed, and the whole match changed.

The German storming back to win 7-6, 1-6, 6-4, Novotna cried her eyes out on the Duchess of Kent's shoulder during the trophy presentation, in what has become one of Wimbledon's most iconic images. "Don't worry Jana, I know you can do it," said the Duchess to Novotna. And she was right, the Czech player triumphing in her third Wimbledon final in 1998. "With the way Jana was playing and the way I was playing, yes, I'd kind of lost it," said Graf, who yelped for joy after pulling off a remarkable turnaround. "I didn't give up but I didn't have a very positive feeling." 1994: Steffi Graf v Lori McNeil In a timely reminder, 1994 proved no champion is safe at Wimbledon. The first Tuesday dawned with an ill wind that blasted through Wimbledon's elite like a bull in a china shop, rattling nerves, stealing the strawberries, flipping the table with a glorious smash.

And there was no greater fall than the world No.1 and five-time champion Steffi Graf, a victim of what the legendary Fred Perry described as "wet, greasy and slippery" gusts. Graf and the wind proved no match for the contrasting cool intensity of her first round opponent, the unseeded Lori McNeil of the US. The German, winner of the last three Wimbledon’s and five of the past six, was blown out of the draw faster than any other defending women's champ in 101 years, and after she cracked nobody was safe. Triumphing 7-5, 7-6, it was the best showing by African-Americans at a Grand Slam event since Arthur Ashe won Wimbledon in 1975, and was received with a huge ovation from the rather wet Centre Court crowd. It was, McNeil said, the best moment she had ever known. "It seemed very short, but at the same time—if this makes any sense—it seemed very long and very loud," she said.

"It was a great feeling, a great moment for me." 1994: Conchita Martinez v Martina Navratilova Even in Wimbledon’s rich history, Conchita Martinez’s triumph in the 1994 Ladies’ Singles has to be one of The Championships’ most fascinating stories. She beat a whole host of top names, including nine-time Champion Martina Navratilova in the final. By doing so, Martinez became the first – and to date only – Spanish woman to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish, and the only Champion between 1982 and 1996 other than Navratilova or Steffi Graf. Despite her excellent run, few gave Martinez a chance in the final against Navratilova. Even at 37, the legendary left-hander was a huge favourite, hunting what would have been her 10th singles crown. But it was not to be, as Martinez produced a stunning upset. The Spaniard admits she was actually more anxious about the prospect of meeting Princess Diana on Centre Court that day.

"When they told me she would be at the final and I would have to curtsy for her, I was more nervous about having to do that and meeting her than playing the match! So maybe that was a good thing." 1995: Tim Henman and the ball girl Always considered to be the epitome of British etiquette, it comes as some surprise that Tim Henman, who shouldered British hopes admirably for so long, became the first player ever to be disqualified from Wimbledon. Playing a doubles match alongside Jeremy Bates, the British pair were leading Jeff Tarango and Henrik Holm by two sets to one. Deep into the fourth set, Henman missed a net cord during the tie-break, and, being an impressionable young thing at that time, lashed out with his racket in frustration, hitting the ball he was holding. But it was his and her misfortune that as he did so, a ball girl was crossing the net, and received the full force of the ball on the side of her head. Referee Alan Mills and Wayne McKewan were summoned to the court, and defaulted the pair for ball abuse. At a late-night press conference at the All England Club, Henman described the incident.

"I was not happy at losing the point and was angry. I went to hit the ball hard. I'd looked to see if the linespeople were out of the way." Clearly on the verge of tears, he said: "It's a complete accident, but I'm responsible for my actions." 1995: Arantxa Sanchez Vicario v Steffi Graf Steffi Graf won her sixth Wimbledon title but was forced to work hard in the final by her erstwhile rival Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, eventually triumphing 4-6, 6-1, 7-5. The Spaniard, a clear underdog on grass, dropped only five points on her own serve to take the first set with some exquisite tennis. But Graf battled back, running through the second set before sealing the win with a break in a titanic 20-minute 11th game in the third set, which featured a boggling 13 deuces and 18 game points. Sanchez Vicario attacked Graf's backhand with such consistency that the German spent much of the game camped in the tramlines on the edge of the court.

On her sixth game point, Graf at last found a powerful backhand drive to seal the break of serve and effectively the match. The Centre Court crowd applauded for the entire changeover, the euphoria continuing as Graf served out for the title. Graf let out an enormous sigh of relief and a cry of joy. She won seven Wimbledons among her 22 Grand Slams but never was she forced to fight harder for victory. 1995: Jeff Tarango’s tantrum If John McEnroe, for all his explosions and mutterings, was a master at delivering a line and working the crowd, fellow American Jeff Tarango was the complete opposite. His meltdown at Wimbledon in 1995, was the perfect lesson in how to alienate an entire crowd with a pathetic, childish outburst. Trailing Alexander Mronz in his third-round match, Tarango became increasingly annoyed with chair umpire Bruno Rebeuh, screaming ‘That’s it, I’m not playing….you are one of the most corrupt officials in the game’. After his request to have Rebeuh removed from the match was denied, Tarango walked off the court, defaulting the match.

He then made matters worse by yelling at the crowd to ‘shut up’ when they jeered him off. Even more bizarrely, a few minutes later, Tarango's wife, Benedicte, slapped Rebeuh twice in the face when they encountered one another in the corridor. Tarango was subsequently banned for two Grand Slam tournaments and fined $63,000. 1996: The streaker The 1996 final between Richard Krajicek and MaliVai Washington was the subject of several headlines, not necessarily because it was the first Sampras-less final in four years, or Washington being the first black man in the final since Arthur Ashe, but because 23-year-old Melissa Johnson became the first female streaker to get on to Centre Court. As the players were preparing to warm up, Johnson ran on to the court with an apron on, disrobed, and ran around the hallowed turf. Six years later, a streaker got on to Centre Court during the men’s final at Wimbledon.

During a rain break, with Lleyton Hewitt leading David Nalbandian 6-1, 1-0 in 2002, 37-year-old Mark Roberts jumped on to the court, shed his clothes and gave spectators quite a show. He pirouetted, bowed, somersaulted over the net and flexed his muscles before he was finally caught and escorted away with a red sheet covering his modesty. 1996: Sir Cliff Richard In one of the most famous and clichéd of all Wimbledon rain delays, play was interrupted extensively in 1996, and so Sir Cliff Richard was invited to give an impromptu concert on Centre Court. The ageing popstar delighted the sodden crowd with a rendition of ‘Singing in the Rain,’ backed by the implausible choir of Virginia Wade, Martina Navratilova, Pam Shriver, Gigi Fernandez and Conchita Martinez. "I started with Summer Holiday, almost as a joke," Sir Cliff said. "It was totally a capella, which has its advantages - it's impossible to sing out of key for a start. And the crowd see the vulnerability of someone singing without any help. They were magnificent, from the first moment.

The reaction was stunning." 1997: Middle Sunday After two days of the 1997 Championships were washed out by rain, the club took the decision to play on the middle Sunday for only the second time in Wimbledon history. This was made particularly thrilling thanks to one match where sporting theatre reached its absolute peak – a third-round clash between Tim Henman, the No.14 seed, and Dutchman Paul Haarhuis, regarded as a doubles expert. For the first time in nearly 20 years, a Brit had a chance of Wimbledon glory and the local public, along with genuine tennis enthusiasts from all over the world, camped all night to pick up one of 14,000 cut-price £15 Centre Court tickets. As Tim Henman recalled, he would never experience a crowd like that "Super Sunday" one again in the 10 remaining years of his career. "From the word go, it was something I'd never experienced before," he admitted. "The noise was at a different level. Every time I won a point it felt like the roof was going to come off.

I’ve never played at Wembley, but I can say that’s as good as it gets in tennis." 1997: Tim Henman v Paul Haarhuis On the 1997 Middle Sunday, Tim Henman and Paul Haarhuis met on Centre Court to contest the sought-after fourth round place against defending champion Richard Krajicek. Neither Henman nor Haarhuis were on top form - there were far too many unforced errors and double faults for the purists, but you would struggle to find any tennis match that could beat it for sheer drama. Henman carved out six first-set points in the opener and squandered them all, three on double faults, and went down 9-7 in the tiebreaker. Haarhuis then got the jitters, a double fault of his own handing the British No.1 the second set and two more giving him the third. There then followed an absolutely exhilarating fourth set. Haarhuis broke early then held strong when Henman twice had golden opportunities to break back, to the groans of the crowd. The underdog was putting up a tremendous fight, but it now became all about who had the bravest of brave hearts.

The subsequent fifth and final set went on and on, each game and each point feeling like a lifetime for the predominately British crowd, who cheered every Henman winner with a roar to put soccer fans to shame. Tiger Tim eventually prevailed 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 14-12, Haarhuis dropping serve to bring the titanic 93-minute decider to an end. Henman went on to beat Krajicek in a four-set, three tie-break thriller before losing to Michael Stich in the quarter-finals. 1997: Martina Hingis Martina Hingis produced the tennis version of rope-a-dope to exhaust Jana Novotna, and become, at 16, the youngest player to win the Wimbledon singles title since 1887. Floating around the court, the young Swiss dismantled the experienced Novotna 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 with a poise and savvy far beyond her years. Despite a slightly timid start, the teenager rallied to hand out an all-court attack that the increasingly weary Novotna was too tired to handle.

"It might be that maybe I'm too young to win this title," said Hingis, who had lost in the French Open final the month before. "But at the French Open I just knew I wasn't in great shape. This time it's like I could do it." It was another blow for Novotna, who had surrendered the title to Steffi Graf four years earlier, but she went on to triumph against Nathalie Tauziat the following year. 1997: The new No. 1 Court Some of Wimbledon's greatest champions, including Rod Laver, John Newcombe, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, Louise Brough, Maria Bueno, Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova gathered at the All England Club in 1997, invited for the opening ceremony of the new No.1 Court at Wimbledon. Officially opened by the Duke of Kent, the new No.1 Court seats 11,000, an increase of 4,500 on the original No.1 Court, which has been demolished.

The building incorporates a food village, a merchandising shop, 11 hospitality suites and a debenture holders' lounge overlooking courts 14-17. In addition to the new No.1 Court, a broadcast centre, new courts 18 and 19, and a road tunnel linking Somerset Road and Church Road came into operation for the first time. As part of the continuation of the Long Term Plan, the site where the original No.1 Court stood, adjacent to the Centre Court, was turned into what is the Millennium Building today - the new player and press facilities, which were completed in 2000. 1998: Martina Hingis v Jelena Dokic Even Jelena Dokic's volatile father was left speechless after the 16-year-old Australian qualifier knocked out world No.1 Martina Hingis in the first round in 1999 in one of the biggest shocks in Wimbledon history. Bobbing up and down like a boxer on the baseline as she swept past Hingis 6-2, 6-0, Dokic summed it up with the understatement so beloved of teengagers - "I think I played quite well today.

There was no pressure on me to win. I didn't feel nervous. I just went for it," Dokic said. "It's tough to beat her, whether you practise with her or not ... I tried to play my own game." Somewhat ironically, Hingis had taken Dokic under her wing as a training partner, practising together before the French Open, and even taking a holiday together. "Martina and her mum made us feel part of the family for a whole week. We never stopped talking and it was such good fun," Dokic said then. "I hope we are friends forever." 1999: Steffi Graf v Venus Williams Old met new in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, as 19-year-old Venus Williams came up against Steffi Graf, on a high after claiming the French Open. It was a second quarter-final in a row at SW19 for Venus, who hussled and tussled to beat Anna Kournikova in the fourth round. But Graf had not won seven Wimbledon titles by just ambling about.

The seven-time champion neutralised the young Venus's powerful hitting in typical athletic style, running down every groundstroke that her opponent pummelled over the net, and sending it back just as hard. Interrupted four times by rain, both players were forced to produce some of their best tennis, Graf in particular mixing it up with drop shots and net play to keep Williams guessing. Converting on her first match point, Graf hopped up and down, punching the air and screaming with delight. "It rarely happens in the quarter-final to play that kind of tennis," said Graf, remarking that it was the best she had ever had to play to get to the semi-finals at Wimbledon. 1999: Pete Sampras v Andre Agassi Sampras v Agassi was the classic duel of the 1990s. Pistol Pete was the quiet, unassuming fellow who kept to himself while going about the business of amassing a record haul of 14 Grand Slam titles, seven of them at Wimbledon. He served, volleyed and one-handed-backhanded his way into the record books, spent 286 weeks as world No.1 and was a model of consistency.

Agassi on the other hand was a veritable firecracker, up one day, down the next. World No.1, world No.141 – it all depended on where his focus was at the time. The two all-American heroes played each other 34 times between 1989 and 2002, with Sampras holding a 20-14 record and a 4-1 advantage in Grand Slam finals. Serving for the title at 6-3, 6-4, 6-5, Sampras fired down two service winners to make it 30-0. An Agassi backhand return clipped the baseline, then he sent a perfect cross-court forehand as Sampras came in behind a second service to level matters at 30-all. The prostrate Sampras, who had dived in vain to retrieve Agassi’s masterpiece, then picked himself up, dusted himself off and banged a second service right on the T for an ace. On match point, Sampras repeated the feat: two second-serve aces and the title, his sixth Wimbledon crown of seven – was his.

Wimbledon Tennis Schedule, Information and Records WIMBLEDON Tennis Schedule, Information and Records Stats Thru 2015 Wimbledon Site: All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, Wimbledon, England Dates: Mon., June 27 - Sun., July 10, 2014 Qualifying Matches: Begin Monday, June 20 Main Draw: To be made Friday, June 24, 10:00am Main Draw Begins Mon., June 27 US Television: ESPN (Two weeks) Singles Winner Prize (pounds): 1,880,000 (men)/1,880,000 (women) Click for the Wimbledon Homepage 7 - William C.

Crenshaw (1881-'86, 1889), Pete Sampras (1993-'95, '97-2000), Roger Federer (2003-2007,2009, 2012) 5 - Hugh Doherty (1902-'06), Bjorn Borg (1976-'80) 4 - Reginald Doherty (1987-1900), Anthony Wilding (1910-'13), Rod Laver (1961, '62, '68, '69), MOST TITLES BY COUNTRY OPEN ERA MATCH WIN LEADERS Jimmy Connors Boris Becker, 1985 (17 yrs, 7 mos) Wilfred Baddeley, 1881 (19 yrs, 5 mos) Sidney Wood, 1931, (19 yrs, 8 mos) OLDEST CHAMPION Arthur Gore, 1909, (41 yrs, 6 mos) Arthur Ashe, 1975, (31 yrs, 1

1 mos) *Open Era leader MISC Lowest Ranked Winner: No.

125 Goran Ivanisevic (2001) Longest men's final by time: Roger Federer d Rafael Nadal 4hrs 48mins (2008) Longest men's match by time: John Isner d Nicolas Mahut 11hrs 5mins (2010) Longest men's final by games: Roger Federer d Andy Roddick 77 games (2009) Longest men's match by games: John Isner d Nicolas Mahut 183 games (2010) Last defending Wimbledon champion to lose first round: Lleyton Hewitt l. to Ivo Karlovic (2003) WINNING WIMBLEDON WITHOUT PLAYING A WARMUP (Open Era - 7 players) Stan Smith 1972 Novak Djokovic 2011, 2014, 2015 HOW HAS THE TOP SEED FARED? Of the 47 Wimbledon championships played since 1968, 19 top seeds have held form and gone on to win the title.

Pete Sampras won 6 of his 7 Wimbledon titles as No. 1 seed, with Lleyton Hewitt successful in 2002 and Roger Federer in 2004-2007. In 2003, Hewitt became the only No. 1 seed at Wimbledon in the Open Era to lose in the 1st round, when he was defeated by Croatian qualifier Ivo Karlovic 16 76 63 64.

MOST WIMBLEDON TITLES - MEN (Open Era) 1 67(7) 64 76(4) 57 64 2013 Andy Murray 57 76(6) 76(5) 36 1614 2008 Rafael Nadal 64 64 67(5) 67(8) 97 2007 Roger Federer 76 46 76 26 62 2006 Roger Federer 63 36 63 26 97 2000 Pete Sampras 67 76 64 36 62 1997 Pete Sampras 67 64 64 16 64 1991 Michael Stich 62 62 36 36 64 1989 Boris Becker 9 - Miss M.

Navratilova (USA) 1978, '79, '82-87, '90 8 - Miss H.N. Wills-Moody (USA) 1927-30, '32, '33, '35, '38 7 - Miss D.K. Douglass- Chambers (BRI) 1903, '04, '06, '10, '11, '13, '14 7 - Miss S.M. Graf (GER) 1988, '89, '91-93, '95, '96 6 - Miss S.J. Williams (USA) 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 YOUNGEST CHAMPION Miss C.

Dod, 1887, 15 years, 285 days OLDEST CHAMPION Mrs A Sterry, 1908, 37 years, 282 days RECENT WIMBLEDON WOMEN'S CHAMPIONS 2015 Miss S.J. Williams (USA) 1 Miss Garbine Muguruza (ESP) 20 6-4, 6-4 2014 Miss P. Kvitova (CZE) 6 Miss E. Bouchard (CAN) 13 6-3 6-0 2013 Miss M. Bartoli (FRA) 15 Miss S. Lisicki (GER) 23 6-1 6-4 2012 Miss S.J. Williams (USA) 6 Miss A. Radwanska (POL) 3 6-1 5-7 6-2 2011 Miss P. Kvitova (CZE) 8 Miss M. Sharapova (RUS) 5 6-3 6-4 2010 Miss S.J.

Williams (USA) 1 Miss Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 21 6-3, 6-2 2009 Miss S.J. Williams (USA) 2 Miss V.E.S. Williams 3 2008 Miss V.E.S. Williams (USA) 7 Miss S.J. Williams 6 2007 V.E.S. Williams (USA) 23 Miss M. Bartoli (FRA) 18 6-4, 6-1 2006 Miss A. Mauresmo (FRA) 1 J. Henin (BEL) 3 2005 V.E.S. Williams (USA) 14 Miss L. Davenport (USA) 1 4-6, 7-6(4), 9-7 2004 Miss M. Sharapova (RUS) 13 S.J. Williams ( USA ) 1 2003 S.J. Williams ( USA ) 1 V.E.S. Williams ( USA ) 4 2002 S.J. Williams ( USA ) 2 V.E.S.

Williams ( USA ) 1 2001 V.E.S. Williams ( USA ) 2 J. Henin (BEL) 8 2000 V.E.S. Williams ( USA ) 5 L.A. Davenport ( USA ) 2 1999 L.A. Davenport ( USA ) 3 S.M. Graf (GER) 2 1998 J. Novotna (TCH) 3 N. Tauziat (FRA) 16 1997 M. Hingis (SUI) 1 J. Novotna (TCH) 3 1996 S.M. Graf (GER) 1 A. Sanchez Vicario (ESP) 4 6-3, 7-5, 1995 S.M. Graf (GER) 1 A. Sanchez Vicario (ESP) 2 4-6, 6-1, 7-5, 1994 C. Martinez (ESP) 3 M. Navratilova ( USA ) 4 1993 S.M. Graf (GER) 1 J.

Novotna (TCH) 8 1992 S.M. Graf (GER) 2 M. Seles ( USA ) 1 1991 S.M. Graf (GER) 1 G.B. Sabatini (ARG) 2 1990 M. Navratilova ( USA ) 2 Z.L. Garrison ( USA ) 5 Lowest ranked women's winner: No.

31 Venus Williams (2007) Longest women's final by time: Venus Williams d Lindsay Davenport 2hrs 45mins (2005) Longest women's match by time: Chanda Rubin d Patricia Hy-Boulais 3hrs 45mins (1995) Set won without losing a point (golden set): Yaroslava Shvedova (3rd round vs S Errani, 1st set) 15 mins (2012) Oldest competitor: 1922, Mrs A O’Neill (GBR) – 54 years, 304 days Youngest competitor: 1990, Jennifer Capriati (USA) – 14 years, 90 days Fastest recorded serve: Venus Williams, 129mph in 2008 - Maria Sharapova (2004), Venus Williams (2005, 2007) and Marion Bartoli (2013) are only players to win Wimbledon when seeded outside Top 10 - The top seed has won the Wimbledon women’s singles 22 times in the Open Era, only three No.

1 seeds have won here in the last 14 years (Serena Williams in 2003 and 2010 and Amelie Mauresmo in 2006) - The women's title has been successfully defended 15 times in the Open Era - Five players havewon the singles title after saving match point (Blanche Hillyard (1889), Suzanne Lenglen (1919), HelenWills-Moody (1935), VenusWilliams (2005) and SerenaWilliams (2009) - In 2010, Serena Williams became the 28th woman towin the singles title without dropping a set (9th in Open Era) - In 2004, Maria Sharapova became the first woman not seeded in the Top 8 to win theWimbledon singles title since seeding began in 1927.

She has since been joined by Venus Williams both in 2005 (No.14) and in 2007 (No.23) - Only 4 players have won the Wimbledon women’s singles title after winning the Wimbledon girls singles title (Haydon-Jones, Susman, Hingis and Mauresmo). - The player with the most women’s doubles titles is Elizabeth Ryan, who won 12 between 1914 and 1934 - Serena Williams was the last player to win both the singles and doubles titles in the same year – 2012; the Williams sisters have won both singles and doubles titles on 5 occasions (3 Serena) - Ann Jones (1969), Martina Navratilova (9 times) and Petra Kvitova (once) are the only three left-handers to win the Wimbledon women’s singles title in the Open Era Wimbledon’s oldest women’s singles champion of all time is Britain’s Charlotte Sterry, who won the title in 1908 at the age of 37 years, 282 days.

The oldest champion at Wimbledon in the Open Era is Martina Navratilova of the USA, who won the last of her record nine Wimbledon singles titles at the age of 33 years, 263 days in 1990. NO.1 SEEDS’ PERFORMANCES AT WIMBLEDON The women's top seed has won singles title at Wimbledon on 23 occasions in Open Era¸ most recently in 2015 with Serena Williams. WINNING FRENCH OPEN AND WIMBLEDON IN SAME YEAR (Open Era): Margaret Court 1970

Question: Who was the defending champion when Andre Agassi first won Wimbledon singles?
Answer: Michael Stich